You may notice that the title is missing a model number. There is a good reason for this. I couldn’t find one. The box was plain apart from “Felixstowe” (so the case has been imported from overseas via the port of Felixstowe) and the word “Case.” Well, at least I knew roughly what was in the box. I should count myself lucky, I did a little research into this case and one of the few results I got was a guy who received his case in a flimsy box. Always buy a case from Casebuy from a shop, if not so you can take it back if (or when, as you probably will have problems), but to avoid it being shipped in flimsy box.
So how do I know it’s made my Casebuy? There was no indication on the box, and there was no documentation with it. I just managed to see the name on the power supply, or Id’ve missed it.
The Casebuy case in question
With the case was your brass standoffs and external screws to fasten everything together. However, this is a full size tower, and there weren’t even enough brass standoffs to fit my micro ATX motherboard. Despite this setback, I did manage to build my computer pretty easily, though I took a while because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Which means all the little cutaways were really handy for fastening cables back with cable ties.
There are 4x CD-ROM bays, 2x floppy drive bays and 4x hard disk bays, so you can have the maximum number of floppy drives or IDE devices that a motherboard would allow- and the power supply reflects this with 2x floppy drive connectors and 4x P4 connectors. It also has a 4pin square connector to power the processor on AMD boards, and also a SATA power supply connector for one device.
The case comes with a clear panel- if seeing the insides of your PC is something that appeals to you, and overall is a good looking black case (with some navy blue.)
Ventilation is good- there are vents in all the right places, such as near the CPU and the PCI cards were heat can tend to become trapped. There are 2 fans which glow blue- one of these being on the side near the PCI cards and CPU, and is in a good place to suck out a lot of the heat buildup, though ventilation is so good I’ve never felt the air from either of the fans warm up. The other fan is on the front on the case, but is in less of a position to remove hot air- especially with the micro ATX board i have fitted, which doesn’t come down as low as the second fan.
The build quality is less impressive. As I built it, a plastic bit fell off, and I have no idea from where. This has happened again twice on subsequent modifications. Also, the motherboard side panel does not line up properly near the front, and if I run my finger around the case I can feel a sharp edge. I wouldn’t want any kids to get hurt but that is a potential accident waiting to happen. I’ve tried to show it in the enclosed photograph- the light area shows the extent of the problem. The front door that covers the drives keeps falling off which is very annoying.
The rough edge on the case
It comes with front panel audio (a mic and speaker out) plus 2 USB ports. Nice, but is standard fare nowadays, so I’m not going to sing and dance about this.
So, all in all, a reasonable case but the build quality leaves a lot to be desired. Also needs documentation.
Item: PC case for ATX motherboard
Make and model: Casebuy????
Colour: Black with some navy blue
Form factor: Full size ATX
Power supply: 230v only with on/off switch on unit. 4x P4 connectors, 2x floppy drive connectors, 1x SATA connector
Build quality: 4/10
Looks: 8/10
Ventilation: 8/10
Value for money: 5/10
Completeness: 6/10
Overall: 62%. “The case seemed fine overall, but not the best built, and I’ve had a few problems because of it. Also needs more screws and documentation included.”
Dan Taylor
EDIT: Since writing this review, my system refused to boot one day. It was not detecting all my IDE devices. I just happened to notic one of the fans wasn’t lighting up. Upon closer inspection the connectors in the fans molex power connector were coming loose, andthis broke the chain. The result- no power to my IDE devices. Once repaired my system worked fine. This further shows the lack of build quality. I’ve taken my PC apart again recentlyto find ALL the p4 molex connectors loose, as well as the same fan connector. This is not good build quality, I not would recomend buying this case to anyone! Let me reiterate:
DO NOT BUY THIS CASE!
